Opponents of the government find the administration at fault in both home and international politics, while being dissatisfied with the performance of the opposition. A pro-government analyst describes the government’s conflicts with international partners as a clash over national sovereignty. READ MORE
A pro-government pundit suggests that the opposition alliance is held together only by hatred of the Orbán government. Two centrist pundits debate the opposition’s vision. READ MORE
Echoing the opposition parties, a left-wing commentator accuses the government of ‘bleeding dry’ local councils by reducing local business taxes. A pro-government columnist, on the other hand, accuses the opposition of the ‘absurd tendency’ to increase taxes in times of economic hardship. READ MORE
Commentators try to make sense of the agreement reached last week on rule of law conditionality of EU financial transfers to member states which enabled Hungary and Poland to abandon their threat to veto the seven-year Union budget and the Covid recovery scheme. READ MORE
Commentators on Left and Right ponder the broader implications of the EU’s rule of law conditionality. Most importantly, they try to gauge how and when it could be used against Hungary. READ MORE
Commenting on the EU rule of law conditionality deal agreed on Thusday, a pro-government columnist thinks that the EU misjudged the Hungarian and Polish determination to withstand efforts to curb their national sovereignty. A left-wing pundit likens the dispute to the Battle of Borodino. READ MORE
A liberal analyst thinks that Prime Minister Orbán miscalculated his chances of success when he opted for a head-on collision with the most influential European governments over plans to make EU financial transfers conditional on respect for the rule of law. A pro-government commentator, on the other hand, believes that Hungary must defend herself against arbitrary rule by Union bureaucrats. READ MORE
A pro-government and a liberal commentator both find it unlikely that the EU can broker a deal with Hungary and Poland on rule of law conditionality. They also agree that the debate will determine the future of the EU. READ MORE
Replying to an article by George Soros, the Hungarian Prime minister accuses what he calls ‘the Soros network’ of trying to eliminate national sovereignty and facilitate migration in order to create a multicultural Europe that would be ‘easy prey for global elites’. READ MORE
A left-wing pundit thinks that US actor George Clooney is right in calling the Hungarian government a textbook example of authoritarian hatred. A left-wing blogger and conservative commentators, on the other hand, express diverging but equally opposing opinions. READ MORE